The RAV has been completely restyled for 2006, inside and out, although functionality has been maintained. The RAV4 has been a standard-setter virtually from its inception. And the exterior is fresh, less flashy, with fewer styling gimmicks. But the same can't be said for the interior, where some of the updating appears not to have been so much an improvement as a change to something different, while still just as good as before.
The 2006 RAV4 is a mix, then, of best, better and good, but with one reservation: the V6 seems almost too much for the package, as if in catching up, Toyota leapt too far ahead. It's a good, solid engine, and it adds substantially to the RAV4's capabilities. It has to haul as many as seven people, for instance, and it raises the tow rating to as high as 3500 pounds. But as it's engineered for the 2006 RAV4, it just might be more than was needed. In other words, the new RAV4 really scoots with the V6. Next Page